Saudis censor swimming suits online (among other things)

A study of Saudi censorship shows limits on information about women's advances, writes the NYTimes. "The 'Women in American History' section of Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (www.women.eb.com), which summarizes the women's rights movement from 1600 to the present, is blocked. IVillage (ivillage.com), a popular American advice and support site for women, is also blacklisted." Other blacklisted sites: www.rollingstone.com, www.wbr.com, www.seznam.cz, www.theonion.com, and www.ifrance.com See most of the list here. The study notes that "28 pages were blocked from Yahoo's Swimming & Diving category." Interesting that no bloggers made the list.

[9] comments (4312 views)  |  link

Blog subscriptions

Newly launched Blog Network charges you $3 a month to access its stable of blogs and publish your own. Bloggers get 50% of the take in proportion to their traffic. It's a creative hybrid of hosting, subscriptions and revenue sharing. The post and comments over at Bill Quick's site summarize the pros and cons.

My take: the blogmachine's atomic-fusion-like power comes from cramming many minds into an open space and letting them interact with fervid recklessness. Barriers or impedances sap this power, so participants will find balancing public versus exclusive content to be a delicate job.

If enough people joined, the math might work. Assuming 1000 bloggers and 9,000 subscribers join, bloggers get to split a pot of $15,000 a month. A power law distribution (the norm for site traffic distribution) would yield roughly these results: 1 blogger gets $4,000 (net $3997), 10 get $400 (net $397), 100 get $40 (net $37), 1000 get $3 (netting 0.) The question for the 999 bloggers who don't get to net $3997 will be, of course, what opportunity for ad revenue or fame has been lost by putting their best content inside the walled garden?

(8/29/02: Over at Bill Quick's blog, the debate about the Blogging Network rages on like some Arizona forest fire. There's also a good debate at Blogroots. I'm excited that Bill is now a Blogad beta user, selling his own ads. On her own blog, Joanne Jacobs tosses lukewarm water on any blogger's chance of making money, then admits that both ideas tempt her. It's early days for blogonomics. 8/30/02: Ken Layne notes, "I've already got a premium/free system. I sell articles and columns to publishers for money, and write for fun on this here site. And there's a nice overlap -- almost everything I've written for publication in the last year is the result of editors reading this site and offering some paying work." And more Bill Quick readers battle each other over the issue here and here. 9/03/02 Bryan Preston compares Blogads to the Blogging Network. And I noticed that the Blogging Network provides a (new?) interesting page full of blogbites about remunerative blogging. I wonder why no mention of Blogonomics? Dave Copeland's pre-launch thoughts about the network. Joanne Jacobs reports $0.30 for her first two days in the network. Not bad, since the membership is still small; but so is the competition. 9/06/02 John Scalzi notes, "A fair chunk of my income comes from people who found out about me through material on this site," so putting information behind a fire-wall wouldn't be worth risk.)

[9] comments (3702 views)  |  link

Bottomless cup of craving

The Washington Post reports: In the early days, when Starbucks "had little advertising money, it used its storefronts as billboards and clustered them close together. The goals: to intercept consumers on their way to work or home or anywhere in between, and to build brand awareness through ubiquity." Today, 1 in 3 Starbucks is cannibalizing a neighboring Starbucks' sales, but those sales recover within a year. (Via Obscure Store.)

[10] comments (3242 views)  |  link

Seeking metadata standards for blogs

By creating blog metadata standards, the BlogMD Initiative hopes to make it easier for readers to find bloggers and for bloggers to find each other.

[10] comments (3048 views)  |  link

Beyond analysis

Wired News reports: "Gartner, Neilsen//NetRatings, Forrester Research and International Data Corporation don't have a single analyst involved in gathering blogging data. 'The area of weblogs isn't covered by our analysts because there is such a limited amount of data,' said Grace Kim of Neilsen//NetRatings. 'Right now it's not that popular, and there is no data.'"

[10] comments (3205 views)  |  link

The creative revolution...

Jeff Jarvis writes: "The bottom line is that entertainment and media can build a new, more profitable and efficient bottom line if only they let the audience help them. They can eliminate many of the middlemen. ... Some companies will wise up and prosper. And many new companies and relationships will grow; I see huge opportunity in creating new collections of talent, new ways to produce, and new ways to distribute." (Via Matt Welch.)

[11] comments (3245 views)  |  link

Barking up the wrong tree?

An estimated $236 billion will be spent this year in the US on traditional print, broadcast, radio and online advertising.

Frustrated that their money is being wasted, some advertisers are resorting to hiring models to infiltrate us with their products. Here are some other wacked promotions: "Procter & Gamble sent out a trailer of elegant, air- conditioned Porta Potties, complete with hardwood floors and aromatherapy candles, to state fairs last summer to extol the virtues of Charmin toilet paper. Bottled-water producer Evian paid to repair a run-down public pool in the London neighborhood of Brixton and tile the bottom with its brand name — a message that was hard to miss for passengers flying in and out of nearby Heathrow Airport."

Umm. Why not spend some of the $236 billion on media that people actually shout about?
Hint. Hint. Hint.
Hint. Hint.
Hint.

[11] comments (3264 views)  |  link

Spooning

Here's the first report of a marriage proposal precipitated by a blog. I've speculated before about the potential for blogs to cannibalize conventions, clubs, churches, corporations, and cities,... but I didn't think about singles bars. (Via Instapundit.)

[11] comments (4351 views)  |  link

'I vant to suck your blog'

The first blogging TV personality is an 800-year-old Brazilian vampire who wears armor and a horned helmet. According to today's NYTimes, the Internet division of the Brazilian media conglomerate Organizações Globo has done a deal with Pyra to provide blogs for several fictional characters from its new soap opera "O Beijo do Vampiro" ("Kiss of the Vampire").

I had been betting on Homer Simpson as the first TVirtual blogger.

Pyra boss Evan Williams says he thinks 13% of 750,000 bloggers are Brazilian.

[11] comments (3225 views)  |  link

More from the Google hit factory

Mark Pilgrim writes: "I am consistently getting over 200 referrals a day from people searching [Google] for Ellen Feiss, a query for which I have ranked in the top 10 for the past 3 weeks when I discovered the Ellen Feiss store and an assortment of fan sites." Six thousand unique visitors a month for one topic: many publishers would kill for aggregate readership like that.

[9] comments (3502 views)  |  link

Congressional bloggers?

Tara Sue Grubb, 26, is being hailed as the "first congressional candidate with a weblog." She doesn't offer a bio and doesn't like linking, whether to other ideas or other community organizations or individuals. She doesn't mention her opponent by name. And she writes things like "Prudent followership in a leader yields prudent leadership for the people."

Well, we've got to start somewhere, I guess. I like the boldness of Dave Winer's claim that "in five years every member of the US House will have a weblog and will be communicating directly with the electorate." That may be true. But Dave doesn't state the corollary: 98% of Congress will be new before every member blogs. These old dogs just won't blog, or at least do it naturally enough to convince the public. Furthermore, the political infrastructure that manufactures Congressmen also will have to be junked/rewired.

Building new markets takes decades. (See prior post.) Unless armed with guillotines or AK40s, revolutions are the same.

(8/26/02: Dave has worked up a new site that includes a blogroll to Grubb's opponent.)

[12] comments (3139 views)  |  link

On building new software markets

Dave Winer writes: "Ten years isn't enough time to create a new market."

[10] comments (3371 views)  |  link

Street-posters and the community

Cory Doctorow writes: "when I was a kid, I used to go downtown and peel off (expired) street-posters and save them in a scrap-book as a record of all the events and shows happening in my city." A unique chronicle of a community's stream of conscious vanishes with each trash can of ephemera.

[10] comments (3693 views)  |  link

Out to pasture

Leaving Washington for Rhode Island, Anne Holland writes: "the heart of journalism in America is going virtual. Many of the editors and reporters I admire most now live in places like Wisconsin, Arkansas, and the backwoods of Connecticut. All you need is a headset, a sensible long distance phone plan, an ISP, and you are in journalism central my friend!"

[10] comments (3604 views)  |  link

More betas live today

OK, there should be a couple more betas live today. For any of you happening on this site by chance, I'll say that Blogads = classified ads in blogs.

We think bloggers are the ultimate intellectual entrepreneurs. Blogger passion and dedication will inspire a new universe of commercial communication.

To read a lot more about what got us started, visit this blog posting.

[11] comments (3642 views)  |  link

Noah's humor

Out touring the flood damage, Tamas photographed this sign taped beside a gate that led into a garden full of water.

It says: "just looking 500 HUF, taking a photo 1000 HUF, using vcr 1500 HUF, 10% discount for the elderly." Prices exclude sales tax. $1 = 250 HUF.

[10] comments (3489 views)  |  link

Blogrolling 'latest links' are great

Using Blogrolling, I just added a link to Hylton Jolliffe on my personal blog. I then went to Blogrolling's "latest links" page, where Jolliffe was now The Latest Link. Amazing to see the synapses wire in real time. (Time-stamps would be nice addition.)

[10] comments (3247 views)  |  link

PRos get blog-envy

Two flaks hyperventilate about blogs. "It is not surprising to see a single hit on one key blog turn into mentions on several others." Welcome to the viral vortex, folks. Your lives will never be the same. (Via Scripting News.)

[11] comments (3166 views)  |  link

Winer: ads in blogs "so wrong"

Continuing to fulminate against blogs earning advertising or commission revenues, Dave Winer writes: "I can't believe people still think that advertising and commissions on catalog sales have anything to do with this medium. That's so ink-stained and so wrong."

[11] comments (3268 views)  |  link

Are bloggers the biggest tippers?

Rick Bruner writes: According to Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, "it takes three types of personalities to make phenomena go epidemic: 'connectors,' who know lots of people and love putting them together; 'mavins,' who know every last detail about their subjects of interest and love sharing information, and 'salespeople,' who have a knack for gaining people's trust and pursuading behaviors. Could you possibly come up with a better definition of the blogger personality?"

[9] comments (3144 views)  |  link

Newsweek on blogs: from competitor to cure-all

Newsweek has returned to cover blogs for the second time in three months. The sharp shift in tone, from skepticism to evangelism, sums up blogging's trajectory.

In the May 20 story, blogs were interesting only as newspaper competitors. Journalist Steven Levy concluded, "Blogs are a terrific addition to the media universe. But they pose no threat to the established order."

Now, on August 26, Newsweek decides "the fun has just begun." Mr. Levy portrays blogs as friend-finders, PR-boosters, brainstorms, and potential life-proxies. "Real-life... sometimes intrudes on the Blogosphere. One day there may not be a difference."

Mr. Levy even writes a pseudo-blog. (My bet is that Mr. Levy started anonyblogging in the last three months, inspiring his conversion to the Church of Blog.)

There's even a hint of Newsweek's next story as his blog closes with a reminder to "call Glenn Reynolds and ask him if he’s made any money." Yes, Mr. Levy, we're working on it.

(Via Instapundit.)

[10] comments (3410 views)  |  link

Long weekend

It's a long weekend in Hungary, where people will be packing sandbags and/or lighting firecrackers for St. Stephen. In the US, my wife and I are travelling get together with a group of old wind-blown friends and drink beer and trade photos of our kids. So, if you've happened upon us via luck or a string of obscure links, you are early. We'll be fully open for business next Wednesday. We'll be back then, full of energy and contrariness and ready to roll out our next wave of betas.

[10] comments (3719 views)  |  link

Thin media

Launching Gizmodo, Nick Denton says, "Media has never before been this lean." Go, thin media!

Update: Blogroots readers debate Gizmodo's prospects, and the word "catablog" is born (but still not bought.)

[12] comments (3537 views)  |  link

What if 0.1% of the Internet likes your tune? That's 500,000 fans...

"His first album, self-published in 1992, gathered dust at local shops. Then along came the Internet. Around 1995, Nevue created his first Web page, DavidNevue.com. In 1996, he launched a site for piano enthusiasts, featuring music reviews and links to other sites, plus information on everything from sheet music to the history of the piano. Nevue also promoted his own, New Age CDs online (soon, he'll have seven of them). As a result, he now sells $1,000 worth of CDs a month and distributes his music digitally through MP3.com."

That's from Business Week, which rounds up the impact of the technology on musicians. Olga Kharif's great article enumerates the Internet's benefits to the independent artist.

It's not just about reaching bigger audiences. The margins are much fatter with no middle man; "Artists who sell their work independently usually garner $8 on a CD retailing for $16, instead of $3 or less when they record for a label."

And don't forget to give the music away. When Napster provided free versions of Janis Ian's songs, her site got 100 extra visitors a month. According to an article on Ian's site: "Of those 100 people (and these are only the ones who let us know how they'd found the site), 15 bought CDs. Not huge sales, right? No record company is interested in 180 extra sales a year. But… that translates into $2700, which is a lot of money in my book. And that doesn't include the ones who bought the CDs in stores, or who came to my shows."

As Ian puts it in another article, "Water is free, but a lot of us drink bottled water because it tastes better. You can get coffee at the office, but you're likely to go to Starbucks or the local espresso place, because it tastes better."

(Via Blogcritics.)

[10] comments (3748 views)  |  link

Why the Titans can't 'get' the Internet

Reviewing a stupid book, Scott Rosenberg writes, "Individually, these contributions may be crude, untrustworthy, unnoteworthy. Collectively, they represent the largest and most widely accessible pool of information and entertainment in human history. And it's still growing. In this context, statements like 'Web content is dead' or 'AOL Time Warner will dominate' aren't so much wrong as irrelevant. Web content is everywhere. No one can dominate the Internet. And the Web belongs to its users. That's not the end of a story, it's the beginning."

[11] comments (3620 views)  |  link

Swimming practice beneath Niagara falls

Ok, beta Blogads are live on two sites: Techblog and Scifan. Many thanks to Ben Sullivan and Olivier Travers for taking the plunge with us. We've done beta testing with adstrips offline; these two niche sites are running the first fully public Blogads. In the next few days, once we've stomped out whatever glitches arise, we'll roll out with a second group of betas with sites inside the blogging feedback whirlpool.

As software developers know, no amount of offline testing can compare with the raw fun of live usage. What features will people use, what will they ignore? Will you get one user the first week, or ten, or 100?

The additional challenge for companies aspiring to serve the blogging community en masse is how to launch a service and tweak it out of the limelight. Because the blogs are so interlinked and quick to assimilate new information, there is no Philadelphia audience to fine-tune your show on before opening on Broadway.

As Ben wrote us after posting his adstrip, "In the immortal words of Socrates, 'I drank what?'" Our sentiments exactly.

[10] comments (4518 views)  |  link